Economic Community of West Africa States, ECOWAS has advised member states to adopt economic and political strategies in addressing the phenomenon of street children in the west Africa Region.
The Clerk, ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association, and General Secretary of ECOPARL Amazons Mrs. Blessing Samuel Atiri made this known during a program ”Street Children”, a Radio Nigeria Network Programme.
Mrs. Samuel- Atiri explained that the approach adopted by member states should be one that would take children off the streets both physically and emotionally to enable reintegrate into society and have prospect for development.
“it’s not about taking them out of the streets because if we take them out of the street physically and to no destination they are also going to come back. So, we need to take them out of streets physically to a rehabilitation center and to take them out emotionally. We all have to tender apologies for our inactions” she added.
The Clerk advocated for a result based educational system that would drive creativity and social network to accommodate the peculiarities of street children towards making them productive.
Callers into the programme also emphasized the need to boost the economic situation of the west Africa region as an underlying factor in addressing the increasing rate of street children in the region.
RN